The Return
by FairSOLDIERLover
Summary: What if Zack didn't really die? Will his sudden guilt help him repair the damage between him and the barmaid at 7th Heaven? In this new world Zack has to figure out whats available for jobs and if the girl he loves will love him back. Rated M for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, I am sorry that it has been such a long time and the fact that I am starting to write right before actual classes isn't the smartest thing that I have done. I have finally gotten some inspiration from the wonderful LyanAvalin on Youtube, her videos always help me when I am in a writers block. Now this story isn't a copy off any of her videos and I don't ever plan to do something like that, I was watching one of her videos and my mind created a story from something out of the blue. I don't think that I could describe in words how my brain operates, especially when it decides that writing is a must and I have to hurry to put the idea onto paper. Haha. Anyway enjoy I have missed you all and I am glad that you are all reviewing on my stories! It means so much to me! (BTW I have to take a English class while I am in college, so expect my writing to slowly or greatly improve! ^_^ )**

**This story takes place at the end of Crisis Core to begin with and once the story actually gets going it will take place AFTER Advent Children. ENJOY!**

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Zack laid on the cold wet ground with his eyes closed, the metallic taste of his own blood covered the inside of his mouth. He heard Cloud's footsteps slowly leave, followed by sharp metal scraping the ground and giving a slight ping when the blade encountered a small rock. Zack had already accepted the fact that he was going to die and he awaited his life to finally slip into a eternal sleep, this peaceful sleep he expected took way longer than he expected.

Slowly the rain began again and lightly drizzled down onto him, his eyelids giving a small twitch with every drop that landed on them. Zack opens his eyes and gaps for air, he only receives a small amount before his lungs fill up with blood once more. This was the most pain he had ever been in, he stared up into the clouds looking for a reason why he is still living.

In the distance, Zack heard footsteps approaching. He thought it was going to be more SOLDIER troops trying to make sure that he was really dead. He blinked slowly and looked at the large white figures approaching him, before his world slowly started turning black. Voices shouted and the footsteps increased their speed, but what the voices said was just a mumble to Zack as his world turned completely black.

* * *

Zack slowly woke to beeping sounds and bright lights. He could tell that he wasn't on the large cliff anymore, but where he was now was very unknown. Brightness, whiteness, and the loud pounding beeping is all that filled the Ex-SOLDIERS world,. He could feel his hair was matted and was stiff from where it had dried from the rain, mud, and blood, some of his hair was almost glued to his face and it felt so weird to him. Luckily for Zack it wasn't long till his world went black once more and all the noises and lights vanish.

When Zack woke again he found that he wasn't hurting anymore and that his body had been washed recently. This worried him as he didn't know who had washed him nor where he was at, or how long he had been in his coma like state. He slowly sat up finding the movement more painful that he thought it would be. He laid back down, thinking about what was going on and why the room he was in looked so familiar. _The Infirmary? _He thought but he wasn't 100% sure on that, it looked like the infirmary but it didn't all at the same time. Maybe he was trapped in some sort of a lab and was becoming their lab rat, he looked around trying to figure out if that was a possibility or if his thoughts were correct about his location.

A nurse came in to check on Zack, she smiled when she seen that he was a wake and kept her distance as she wrote things down on her clipboard. She knew he was a 1st Class SOLDIER and that if he were to flip out and attack, he could kill her in the blink of an eye.

"Where am I?" Zack asked with a slightly scratchy voice.

"You are in intensive care. You sustained severe injuries that should have killed a normal human, we are giving you some Mako injections to help heal you." she replied with a smile on her face.

"How long have I been asleep? Am I still in Midgar?" His bright blue eyes practically stared a hole into her causing her to shift before she answered.

"Y-yes you are still in Midgar, or what is left of it. You have been here for about 5 years." She looked at her clipboard and slowly made her way to the door. "I'll make sure you get something to eat when meal time comes around." With that she left.

"Oh yay, hospital food." Zack slightly cringed, he didn't know if he was hungry but the thought of food sounded good.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on, Zack watched the news for a while and got to see the "new" Midgar. He had to admit that he was shocked to see how much it had changed. It wasn't all that glorious to start out with but now was definitely worse. He seen Cloud driving around in the background of a few different stations, he was happy that the little chocobo was still alive. Zack wondered what it would be like to see Cloud again.

* * *

"_Cloud! Run!" Zack screamed at Cloud as he fought against Genesis and his copies. He glanced back to see panic stretched across Cloud's face, he could see the blonde was frozen in fear of what he was seeing. "Cloud!" _

_Zack turned and grabbed Cloud once the battle was over and Genesis had flew away. "What was that! SOLDIERS don't lock up like that!" Zack knew he shouldn't of been mad at the young blonde, but that was a mistake that could have cost them both of their lives._

Zack woke from his dream and stared up at the ceiling, his memories played like old movies in his head. He wanted to savor them all. The raven haired man thought about one memory that he would always cherish, and that was the day that he seen the beautiful chocolate haired woman at the Mako reactor in Nibelheim.

"_I hate you! I hate SOLDIER!" She screamed as she tries to crawl away from Zack. She cradled her wounds as she cried and continued to talk about her hate for ShinRa. _

"_Sephiroth…. I trusted you…" He ran up the stair case and began working on opening the door at the top. He looked back at the beautiful girl that laid on the floor, he thought that maybe he should just stay with her and help her to get better. It wasn't long before the rage in Zack's body flooded his judgment. He hated Sephiroth for hurting Tifa, and he hated him for burning down Nibelheim. _

Zack laid awake for the rest of the night thinking about Tifa, he wished that he didn't leave her behind and that he could change the past. This was definitely going to be the hardest night that he was going to have to live through.


	2. Chapter 2

Zack was in the IC unit for quite a while, he had physical therapy in the mornings and the rest of the day to watch TV. Honestly, the lack of being able to do something was driving Zack up a wall with boredom. He sat in bed rubbing his legs, they were sore from the lack of movement and now that he was putting them back to work he had to relearn how to walk. It wasn't hard for him to remember but it hurt when he did, he also didn't like the slowness of his therapist so he decided that he would do a squat while she wasn't looking and found it incredibly difficult. Life was going to be extremely hard for him until he could be back into SOLDIER fitness, and from the looks of it, it was going to take a while for that to happen.

The months past and the routines continued, it wasn't long till Zack was jogging on the treadmill. Some of the therapists were amazed at his recovery, it had been a long time since they had to take care of a SOLDIER. Zack was happy that his stamina hadn't decreased much since he was admitted to the hospital, he looked at the therapists from time to time and could see the look of amazement on their faces. They monitored his pulse, respirations, and speed. They even tried to see if inclining the treadmill would do anything and nothing still happened, only one therapist had noticed that Zack was slowly increasing the speed of the treadmill. He wanted to know how much he could take before it was too much, it wasn't until he reached the max that he started to break a sweat and loose the ability to breath. He simply pulled the safety key from the machine and slowed down with the machine, he placed his hands on his knees and caught his breath which didn't take long.

"Well, how am I doing? Can I leave yet?" Zack looked at his main therapist with his hands on his well defined hips and gave her a cocky smile.

"You are doing remarkably well and should be able to leave soon. You can't just sign yourself out Zack, we have to call someone to come get you so we know that you will have somewhere to stay to finish recovering." She looked at him, his hair had grown a lot compared to his SOLDIER ID photo. _That was also 5 years ago _she thought.

"Who are you going to call? My parents don't live anywhere close and for all I know they think I am dead. Cloud and Tifa both think I am dead and I don't even know about Aerith. I have no one but myself." Zack shook his head.

"We will call the Strife residence and see if they would be willing to come pick you up and care for you for a little while. Who is Aerith? We can always give her a try as well." The therapist gave him a look as she wrote down a few things.

"Aerith Gainsborough, she lives in the Slums last I knew." Zack wasn't pleased with what he was hearing.

"We will see what we can arrange. For now you should go back to your room." She smiled and left to go make her phone calls. Several nurses came and escorted Zack out of the PT room, he hated being babysat but apparently it was needed. He found out that he was the only SOLDIER left besides Cloud, and Cloud didn't even make SOLDIER so he didn't really count.

He looked out his window and watched some of the other patients playing in the yard, they wouldn't let him do that either cause his eyes would give him away. He let out a big sigh before turning and beginning his squat routine.

* * *

_Mean while with Cloud_

He sat at the dinner table with Tifa and the kids, it wasn't often that they were able to do this but for once it was really nice. The bar opened in a couple hours and Barret was coming to take the kids to his place for the weekend. Cloud sadly had some deliveries that he had to make, he needed the money badly and what he was going to make wasn't going to be enough to cover some expenses.

It wasn't long till Barret showed up and took the more that excited kids, he smiled and waved goodbye to Cloud and Tifa before following after the kids. Soon it was going to be Cloud's turn to leave, he didn't like leaving Tifa behind for such a long time but it had to be done. He grabbed the keys to Fenrir just as his phone began to ring, he gave a sigh thinking the call was going to be either another delivery or Reno.

"Strife Delivery Service, Cloud speaking." His voice was irritated and seemed a little short.

"Mr. Strife? Hi, I am I am Diana one of the Physical Therapist here at the Hospital, I would just like to ask if you know a Zack Fair?" He voice was pleasant but seemed to wanting to get the introduction out of the way quickly.

"I use to, he is dead now. I watched him die." Cloud lightly snapped at her, he could feel the memories flood back as tears welled behind his eyes.

"Actually, that is something that I would like to talk to you about. Would you mind coming down so I can explain in person? I think you are going to want to see this for your self. My patient is getting rather restless and I would like to know that he is in good hands to keep him from re injuring his wounds." Diana's voice was soothing and a little worried about what the blondes answer was going to be.

"I have deliveries to make, I don't have time to come look at someone who claims he is Zack Fair reincarnated. Remember the Kadaj/Sephiroth incident?" Cloud's voice was extra sharp this time as his thumb rested on the 'end' key on his cell.

"It will take 5 minutes." She stated, she knew it would take less than that to see this was the real one.

Cloud sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He gave Tifa a gentle unknowing look as she stared at him trying to figure out what was going on. She hadn't admitted to Cloud that she fell in love with his best friend back in Nibelheim, she didn't think that she was ever gong to have to. Cloud looked at his keys once again before answering. "Fine, I'll be there in 5." with that he hung up before the therapist could respond.

"Another "Zack"?" Tifa dried her hand as she slowly approached Cloud.

"Probably. I probably shouldn't even go down there." Cloud sighed and he headed for the door.

"I'll come with you. The bar can wait a little bit." Tifa quickly caught up to him grabbing her own keys before locking the door behind her. They both didn't know what they were getting themselves into but they hoped the hospital got it right this time.

* * *

When they arrived at the hospital and went to the ICU floor, they didn't know why they were actually doing this. Zack had been dead for 5 years there is no way that he is alive. Diana came out and seen Cloud and Tifa, she gave them a gentle smile and walked over to them.

"He is down in the PT room. Follow me." She lead the way to where Zack was, they walked by a set of one way windows. All Cloud and Tifa seen was a man performing squats, his black spiky hair bounced with his movements and seemed a little unruly. The man who claimed he was Zack was built a lot like Zack, his arms were huge and his body was perfectly toned. Possibly too toned to be Zack. "This is the one room he hasn't really left for the past couple months, I haven't ever seen a man go from not walking in 5 years to sprinting on the treadmill with out breaking a sweat and doing over 100 reps of squats. His stamina is amazing and inspiring. I've never seen a SOLDIER recover from what he went through with only a few Mako injections a year and completely healing." She silenced herself realizing that they probably didn't care.

Tifa slowly approached the one way window and looked at him, Diana was right he wasn't even breaking a sweat and was performing like someone who hadn't been injured at all. She watched as Zack removed his shirt and they both could see the scars that coved his torso. They both looked at each other and then back at Zack. "He's alive" They said at the same time, this caused Zack to snap his head toward their direction and unintentionally make eye contact with Tifa. The brunet slowly swallowed as the ravens bright violet blue eyes stared a hole straight into her, the same way they did back in Nibelheim.

It wasn't long till Zack gathered his shirt and headed for the exit to go back to his room. Diana stopped him from completely leaving.

"Now what are you wanting me to do? Talk to the deaf, doesn't work." His voice was irritated as he rounded the corner and practically walked straight into Cloud and Tifa. His eyes increased in size as he stared at them in disbelief.

"Holy shit!" Tifa shouted as she looked Zack up and down, she had to admit that she was admiring what she was seeing but she was also surprised to see him.

Cloud was speechless, he couldn't think or move or do anything. Zack gave Tifa a cocky smile before looking at Cloud.

"Hey spikey, this isn't infantry anymore and I'm not 1st class any more. Relax buddy." Zack shook Cloud's shoulder trying to snap him out of his trance.

"Y-y-y-you're a-a-alive?!" Cloud didn't know how to approach this at all. He looked at the therapist. "Is Aerith alive too?! If you can bring Zack back you must be able to bring her back!" Cloud officially showed Tifa who he really loved, she had her suspicions but she wasn't 100% clear.

"No, Cloud. Aerith could not be saved. We tried but there was nothing we could do to save her. We didn't even think Zack was going to make it and he was worse off then she was." Diana tried to explain to a freaking out blonde.

"Wait! Aerith is dead?! Cloud I told you to protect her! You let her die!" Zack snapped at Cloud, the betrayal was too much for Zack to handle.

"Sephiroth killed her. Yes, she is dead and it wasn't all my fault!" Cloud shouted back.

"Zack! Calm down. There wasn't anything anyone could do to save her." Tifa tried to place a reassuring hand on Zack's shoulder only to have it shoved away and disregarded. She didn't know how to feel, she knew he was pissed and had more strength than the three of them combined if he were to attack from anger.

"Get them out of here!" Zack demanded and he tried to exit.

"No!" Tifa punched his face. "You are coming home with us. There is a lot that you need to be caught up on, and a lot that you need to know." Tifa's face was serious, her hand screamed in pain as she kept it in a fist prepared to hit him again. She was pretty sure she broke her hand on his face, guess it was a good thing she was in a hospital but she would rather use the materia at home to fix her hand.

Zack glared at her, his cheek did hurt and he was going to give her credit for being able to even hurt him. Only he feared that she was hurt more than he was. He noticed the shaking in her fist, he could tell it was in an extreme amount of pain so it had to be broken. "I guess if it gets me out of here I shouldn't complain."

"Exac-ctly." Tifa's voice cracked as she spoke again, she didn't expect her voice to betray her like it did. She watched Zack as he seemed to be carefully examining her hand.

"Cloud scribbled his name on a piece of paper. "Common Tifa, lets go." Cloud turned and walked in the direction that they came. Tifa followed and cradled her arm the whole way, Zack followed behind watching the two. Cloud didn't seem to really care that Tifa had just broke her hand against Zack's face, Zack felt horrible that he made her do it. He hated seeing her hurt and this time it was his fault not Sephiroth's.


End file.
